Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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SLIDDERIE, adj. Also -y, slidri (Jak.), slidry; sluthery; sclidderie, skliddery, sclitherie, -y, ¶sklydderie; ¶slidderly (Sc. 1782 J. Sinclair Ob. Sc. Dial. 138). [′slɪd(ə)ri, ′slɪð -, ′skl-]

1. Slippery, causing slipping or sliding (Sc. 1812 W. Angus Eng. Grammar 332; Rxb. 1825 Jam.; Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928); Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Sh., ne., m.Sc., Rxb. 1970).Sc. 1721 J. Kelly Proverbs 305:
There is a slidd'ry Stone before the Hall Door; signifying the Uncertainty of Court Favour, and the Promises of great Men.Sc. 1828 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) II. 52:
A hard-bottomed kitchen cheyre, deep-worn, sliddery.Slg. c.1860 Trans. Slg. Arch. Soc. (1923) 24:
In slaistery, sliddery glaur.Abd. 1868 G. Macdonald R. Falconer v.:
That's a lang ride, my lord, and a sliddery.Edb. 1895 J. Tweeddale Moff 168:
Venturing on that sliddery ice.Sh. 1900 Shetland News (6 Oct.):
Dis weet is made iverything as sliddery as da melishin.Bnff. 1923 Banffshire Jnl. (27 Nov.) 3:
Dinna gang ower fest, the road's some sliddery.Ayr. 1927 J. Carruthers A Man Beset 45:
A' they sliddery weeds on the bottom.Dundee 1996 Matthew Fitt Pure Radge 7:
creesh on the ba
ren skelpin doon
the field aa slidderie
unner the lichts Abd. 1998 Sheena Blackhall The Bonsai Grower 47:
Dug-pish at the foun o the auld gas lichts in the streets froze yalla ower the skytie cassies. Mochie keekin-glaisses o ice teetit up frae blaik rinks of sliddery frost.

2. Of a hillside: covered with slidders, loose stones or scree. See Slidder, n., 3.Rxb. c.1800 Mem. S. Sibbald (Hett 1926) 167:
Whan ambition gars him wuss to claim the hell [climb the hill] he ofttimes fends it over steep or selithery [sic].Sc. 1884 T. Speedy Sport in Highl. 375:
The “sclithery” rock giving way, we slid down again into the bottom of the “rut”.

3. (1) Not easy to hold on to, eluding the grasp (ne.Sc., Ags. 1970); evasive.Abd. 1893 G. Macdonald Songs 6:
The sliddery troot wi' ae soop o' its tail.Fif. 1895 S. Tytler Kincaid's Widow v.:
He is master here, forby being but a sluthery fish.Fif. 1909 Colville 120:
“Gellies”, . . . the name for the sliddery leech.ne.Sc. 1928 J. Wilson Hamespun 46:
While ane an' a' are hairmless bannin' His sliddery kyte [of an eel].

(2) Not firm or tenacious, not able to hold on; squandering, spendthrift.Sc. 1721 J. Kelly Proverbs 141:
He has a sliddery Gripe that has an Eel by the Tail.Ayr. 1892 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage 198:
Nor recks the coof some sliddery loof Will soon skail a' abreed.

4. Of food: soft, sloppy, sliding easily down the throat (n.Sc. 1808 Jam.; Sh., Ags. 1970); of other objects: smooth, gliding easily, slithering.Ayr. 1889 H. Johnston Glenbuckie 215:
O sowens is a sliddery meat.Abd. 1963 J. C. Milne Poems 34:
I'll big ma cairt o' sliddery sheaves.

5. Insecure, unstable to stand or rest on, shaky, loose under foot (Sh., Bnff., Abd., Ags., wm.Sc., Kcb., Rxb. 1970); fig. changeable, uncertain, fickle; not fully under one's control, blundering.Sc. 1705 Observator (16 May) 37:
A Foundation so Loose and Slidry as Lies and Calumnies.Sc. 1737 Ramsay T.-T. Misc. (1876) II. 219:
Is not this warld a slidd'ry ball?Abd. p.1768 A. Ross Works (S.T.S.) 205:
[They] are not ay to ride the water on, And sick a sliddery beast may be Mess John.Ayr. 1786 Burns Farewell to Brethren i.:
Pursuing Fortune's slidd'ry ba'.Sc. 1819 Scott Bride of Lamm. xv.:
In these sliddery times.Ags. 1894 People's Friend (27 Aug.) 556:
I beg your pardon, minister. Confound my slithery tongue.Sh. 1897 Shetland News (15 May):
My life is been as markit bi ups an' doons — da tane as steep, an' da tidder as sliddery.Edb. 1915 T. W. Paterson Auld Saws 30:
Whan the fittin wad be slidd'ry.

6. Fig., of persons or actions: sly, not strictly honest, deceitful, unreliable, untrustworthy (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Sh., ne., em.Sc.(a), wm.Sc., Rxb. 1970). Combs. slidderie-stammakit, indiscreet in one's talk, inclined to blab (Abd. 1931); slidderie-tongued, untruthful (Abd. 1910).Edb. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 45:
Unless some slidd'ry means he us'd To lay the de'il.Lnk. 1816 G. Muir Minstrelsy 8:
Lawyers fam'd for slidd'ry gabs.Abd. 1868 W. Shelley Flowers 181:
Some gleg-gabbit slidderie lier.ne.Sc. 1914 G. Greig Folk-Song cxlv. 1:
He's saft as ony gorblin, bit he's sliddery as a skate.Edb. 1916 T. W. Paterson Wyse-Sayins vii. 21:
Wi' her sliddry tongue She man's to come ower him.